Minneapolis, Minnesota Mayor Jacob Frey (D) is set to issue an executive order today instructing the city’s policy to deprioritize the enforcement of laws related to some psychedelics, the New York Times reports. The move follows similar reforms enacted in Denver, Colorado, Detroit, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.
Frey acknowledged that some residents might oppose any loosened enforcement of drug laws, but that he hoped the changes would contribute to a national rethinking of drug laws and draw attention to the role plant-based psychedelics can play for people dealing with depression, trauma, and addiction – claims which have been bolstered by recent studies.
“We have a mass proliferation of deaths of despair. This is something that is known to help.” — Frey via the Times
Frey’s executive order does not legalize psychedelics but makes them the lowest enforcement priority for the city’s police. Psychedelic-related arrests in Minneapolis have been rare in recent years, city officials told the Times. The executive order would still allow people to be charged for distributing psychedelics in schools or for driving under their influence.
The order applies only to naturally occurring psychedelics, like magic mushrooms, ayahuasca, mescaline and iboga, and excludes synthetic drugs like LSD and MDMA.
Minnesota lawmakers in May created a task force that will outline a detailed proposal for legalizing medicinal psychedelics in the state.
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